Oladapo Daniel Oyebanjo, popularly known as D’banj, has teamed up with MTN Nigeria, the largest mobile phone company in the country, to launch the second edition of music talent hunt, “Best of the Street.”

Best of the Street is aimed at discovering raw talent from grassroots communities across Nigeria, according to the promoters.

D’banj, who launched the project that was first introduced in October 2023 to discover musical talents from grassroots communities in Nigeria, believes that the initiative will offer a global platform for aspiring artists to showcase their skills.

D’banj: Best of the Street will discover natural talents across Nigeria

Best of the Street will be executed in collaboration with the Creative, Reality, Entertainment, Arts, and Music (CREAM) Platform. Reflecting on the project’s second edition of the talent hunt, the promoters said it has received an overwhelming response of over 1000 entries so far.

 “You can pick [talent] up and refine it. That is why ‘Best of the Street’ is so important. Today, the biggest export more than crude oil is the creative industry,” D’banj said.

The Nigerian singer believes that grassroots communities have a significant impact on shaping music talent and opportunity. For this reason, his project focuses on these communities. He also mentioned that while thinking about the future of ‘Best of the Street’, he sees a vast landscape of opportunity and collaboration, and recognises the importance of the project.

“The street,” D’banj said, “is where everything is. Even I came from the street. Today, the biggest export we have is crude oil. Crude oil is found in the street. That is, in the ground. It is refined into different products. It is the same with talent; it is natural,”

He also added that “I can tell you that ‘Best of the Street’ will be so big two years, or three years from now. It will grow from just Nigeria to the rest of Africa. It is important to go out there instead of waiting. Go out there and amass this talent so that we can nurture them and make sure they don’t make the same mistakes we made. We need to ensure they can maximize their opportunity. There is no better time than now”

The music star is hopeful that the initiative will expand beyond national borders to become a continental hub for aspiring talent and provide guidance.

D’banj said that the second edition of the project received more than 1,000 submissions and the winner will receive a grand prize of N50 million.